사회복지사의 아동학대 신고의무에 관한 인식 연구

Abstract

아동학대는 매년 급증하고 있는 추세이며 그에 따른 사회문제화 되면서 아동학대에 대한 사회적 관심도 크게 증가하였다. 2000년에 개정된 아동복지법의 내용 중 아동학대 신고의무제 규정이 정비되면서 아동학대에 대한 인식의 필요성이 점차 증가하고 있다. 본 연구는 서울시 종합사회복지관에 근무하는 사회복지사를 대상으로 신고의무자 지정의 필요성을 강조하고 신고 제도의 활성화 방안을 모색하기 위해서 사회복지사들의 아동학대 신고제도에 관한 인식을 연구하였다. 본 연구의 조사는 서울시 종합사회복지관을 대상으로 실시되었으며,총 436부가 최종분석에 사용되었다. 사회복지사들은 아동학대가 자주 일어나고 있으며, 심각한 수준이라고 인식하고 있었다. 아동학대 인식 요인과 관련하여 아동학대 심각성에 대한 인식이 높을수록 신고의 장애물에 대한 인식은 낮은 경향이 있었다. 또한 사회복지사들은 45.2%가 학대가 의심되는 아동을 발견한 경험이 있다고 응답하여 아동학대 발견에 용이한 위치에 있음을 확인할 수 있으며, 부모·보호자 상담, 부모교육, 아동상담 등 직접적인 서비스를 현장에서 실천하고 있다는 것을 알 수 있었다. 반면 아동학대를 관련기관에 신고한 대상자는 24.9%에 머물고 있어 낮은 신고율을 보였다. 사회복지사들은 아동복지법의 신고의무제 조항과 관련된 인지도에서 아동학대에 대한 정의가 가장 높은 인지도를 보인 반면, 아동학대자에 대한 처벌 규정은 가장 낮은 인지도를 보였다. 사회복지사들은 본인의 직업이 아동학대와 밀접한 관련이 있으며 의무적인 신고가 아동학대의 예방과 치료에 도움이 될 것이라고 인식하고 있었으며 신고의무자 지정에 대한 의견에 93.5%가 긍정적으로 응답하였다. 교육에 있어서는 아동학대 관련 세미나·교육에 낮은 참여율을 보였으며, 교육에 참석하지 못한 이유로는 참석할 기회조차 없었다는 비율이 가장 높아 교육의 기회조차 제공되고 있지 못한 현실을 볼 수 있다. 이상의 결과를 근거로 첫째, 아동학대 신고의무자의 확대 지정이 필요하며, 신고 의무화를 위한 명확한 규정 마련, 둘째, 아동학대에 대한 체계적 교육과 홍보가 실시, 셋째, 아동학대 문제를 해결하기 위한 보호서비스 체계 마련과 관련 기관과의 연계를 활성화 방안을 제언한다.;Therehasbeen atendency toincreaserapidly toward child abuse yearly and as it becomes a social problem, the social interest in that has taken a growing increase. Child abuse is not the family problem any more and the recognition that the society is responsible to child for protection from abuse is expanding, thereby trying various ways for a battered child.As the regulation about mandatory report of child abuse isreorganized in the content of the Child Welfare Act amended in 2000, the necessity for recognition about child abuse is gradually increasing. This study emphasized the need for a designated obligatorbound in duty to give the reportcovering the social worker employed in social welfare centers in Seoul and examined the recognition for child abuse reporting system by a social worker to find a solution for activation of that system. It was conducted on social welfare centers in Seoul from April 12 in 2006 to May 2 and used a total of 436 copies for the final analysis. The collected data were analyzed statistically using SPSS program and performed descriptive statistics such asfrequency and percentage,Pearson Chi-Square, T-TEST and ANOVA. Theresultsareasfollows: First, socialworkers recognized that child abuse is a matter of frequent occurrence and isserious.They also knew that it is more frequent if having lower work position and charging a family function enhancement business and that it is more serious in woman than in man. Meanwhile,in relation tochild abuse recognition factors,the level of recognition in the seriousness of child abuse, the effectiveness of the notification and an obstacle of there portshowed high recognition for the seriousness,the recognition for the effectiveness somewhat higher than the average and there cognition for an obstacle somewhat lower than middle. There was atendency that the higher recognition for the seriousness of child abuse,the lower recognition for the obstacle ofreport. It is thought that those factors generally have positive influences on there portintention for child abuse by a social worker. Second,45.2% of them responded to have an experience that discovered suspected child and it showed that they are easy to find child abuse and practice directservices such as consultation of a parent and a keeper,parent education,and child counsel in the field. On the other hand,there portrate waslow with 24.9% of reporter who notified child abuse toarelated institute and most of the reasonwhy did not report was that abuse is not serious and that they do notsureit. It was determined the need for systemic education and training for child abuse as they do not take an active hand on it because they do not know the exact regulation even they saw many cases. Third, it showed considerably higher recognition for the child abuse report system and the route to knowing it was the media in most cases.While the definition of child abuse was the highest recognition in that related to the provision of report obligation in the Child Welfare Act, it was low in the punishment provision for an injurer. Therefore, that needs to make higher recognition for a concrete content of law and a punishment for child abuse.Social workers thought that their job maybe closely related to child abuse and their obligatory report is very helpful for the prevention and the treatment. In addition,93.5% of them were positive in a designated reporter of social workers and thought that the social welfare is useful for early discovery of child abuse and maybe largely effective on the prevention. On the other side,the reason why negatively recognized is that it is a burden on being report obligatorby the risk of personal exposure. Therefore, it is considered that the legal complement of protection of the obligator is urgent. Forth,the social workers showed low participation rate on child abuse-related seminarand education and it showed the reality not provided the opportunity of education for the highest reason was that they have no opportunity to attend it. Accordingly,it should be ensured the expansion of the opportunity to participate and the obligation through the expansion and systemization of education. For the prevention education,it needs information about report procedure and institute and the education for battered child counseling and management. And for the activation of report system,it requires to have immediate intervention when reported and protection system to protect the child. In addition, it emphasizes the importance of establishment of child protection policy as the task for child abuse prevention. Basedon above results, it is suggested as follows: First, it suggests an ecessity of expanded designation of an obligator bound a duty on child abuse reporting and the need for the clear rule in reporting obligation. Second,it also suggests a necessity of systemic education and public information for child abuse. Third,it proposes the provision of protection service system to settle child abuse and the activation of connection with related organization. Keywords: Mandatory Reporter, Child Abuse, Social Worker